The house where Emily Dickinson lived and wrote most of her poems will be showcased in film about the poet's life called "The Quiet Passion." A crew will be in town Monday through Wednesday shooting.
(Republican file Michael S. Gordon)

AMHERST - Those traveling through town beginning Monday might experience some delays while crews are on hand filming scenes for the Emily Dickinson film "The Quiet Passion."

Directed by the British filmmaker Terence Davies, the film starts Cynthia Nixon likely best known for her role as Miranda in "Sex in the City" as the poet as an adult.

Crews will be at the Wildwood Cemetery early Monday morning and then at the Emily Dickinson Homestead in the afternoon Monday, and all day Tuesday and Wednesday. The museum will be closed Monday through Wednesday.

According to an alert from town officials, filmmakers have received permission to control traffic intermittently on Strong Street in front of Wildwood Cemetery, on Main Street in front of the Emily Dickinson Museum property, as well as limiting traffic exiting onto Main Street from Churchill, Seeley and Webster Street.

There may be slight delays but the roads will remain open. Amherst police will have officers on site to assist.

The filming meanwhile is expected to generate attention for the town and bring renewed interest to the poet.

Select Board member Jim Wald said when "Malice" with Nicole Kidman was shot here and in Northampton in the early 1990s, filmmakers were looking for a small New England College town feel. But the communities were backdrops not stars.

"Here, by contrast, the Director is making a film that is explicitly about Amherst," Wald wrote in an email. "The Dickinson Homestead is not like the old house in Historic Deerfield that served as a setting for "Little Women." It is the actual site of the life and work of the film's protagonist.

"Western Massachusetts is for many reasons a great location in which to shoot films--but we are not usually thought of that way.

Gallery: Film crew works in Amherst for story on 19th Century poet Emily Dickinson

And he said Amherst is not on the map. "This is an ideal opportunity to change that.

"Shooting the film here also meshes perfectly with the Town's goals for cultural tourism as a means of smart economic development." It dovetails with U.S. Rep. James McGovern's intention to see the town promoted to people all over the state.

"This film offers the perfect opportunity to bring Amherst to the attention of a huge pool of prospective visitors."

And he said it's a chance to bring Emily Dickinson to people who might not know that much about her life.

"It's second nature for us here to identify Emily Dickinson with Amherst--indeed to consider the two inseparable--but that may not be the case for readers or moviegoers of all ages and cultural or geographic backgrounds. This is a chance for us to make that connection."

It is unclear if the films stars will be on site for the filming. The film was shot in Belgium on a replica of the poet's house and needs scenes here to add authenticity, said Oliver Amerigian, location manager for the film. Shooting has wrapped there, he said.

While Amerigian initially said that two-three room actor campers and a hair and makeup trailer would be on site, he said only equipment trucks will be here now.

Besides Nixon, the film stars Jennifer Ehle, who was in "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Fifty Shades of Gray," along with Keith Carradine who plays the poet's father Edward Dickinson. He most recently played President Conrad Dalton in the television series "Madam Secretary." Emma Bell plays the poet when she's young.